Find your way to Winston-Salem, NC and have the beer that you have been following on social networks. Small Batch Beer Co. uses ioBridge Technology to tell their patrons how much beer is left in their tanks at their brewery. Small Batch specializes in making limited quantities of beer one barrel at a time and they rotate what they are brewing. Their loyal fans want to know how much is available and when to see if they are going to stop by for beer.

The team from Small Batch partnered with ioBridge and the marketing team at Mullen to create an interactive website, social feeds, and mobile apps to make beer social. “The technology behind the project was the easy part. Creating strong connections with people and what they love is the real value of the project,” said Jason Winters, Project Lead. “Beer is social.”

The technology behind the project uses an ioBridge Gamma Web Gateway and an Omega Continuous Level Reed Switch. The Gamma Gateway connects to the ioBridge Cloud and turns all of the raw tank level data into easily accessible data for web pages and applications via ioBridge’s API. And behind the scenes, Small Batch is able to set alerts, track environmental data, build dashboards for their suppliers, and control operations to optimize brewing conditions.

The polar vortex may have bundled up this week, but if you are into riding snowmobiles, then get out to the trails since there is 8.7 inches of snow out there!

The members of the Laurel Highlands Snowmobile Club (LHSC) created a system of cameras and wireless level sensors connected to the Internet with ioBridge Cloud Services to provide real-time monitoring of snow levels on the snowmobile trails in the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania. Knowing the snow levels means whether or not you show head to the trails or stay home. You need around 6 inches of snow to have a lot of fun. This is a great professional application of ioBridge technology and internet connected services. We use the very same technology in our TideAlerts.com system that monitors and alerts boaters of the time levels in Cape Cod.

“It’s not fun driving all the way out to the mountain to find out there is not enough snow to ride our snowmobiles,” said Bill Bennett, LHSC Member. “With the automated and wireless snow tracking system with ioBridge the snowmobile club members know exactly how much snow is on the trail.”

ioBridge Gamma with Wireless Endpoints System Overview

The ioBridge Gamma Web Gateway is designed for professional applications that require easy-to-install connectivity to remote sensors and controls commonly found in M2M applications. Once connected, your solution gets the benefit of the ioBridge Cloud Services such as Data Logging, Alerting, and Dashboards. Everything from orchard monitoring to alerting snow levels is possible with the ioBridge Gamma Web Gateway with Wireless Endpoints. Full documentation is available on ioBridge Connect.

Getting Started

On ioBridge Connect, we have created a complete tutorial on how to use the MaxBotix Range Sensor for measuring water or snow levels connect to ioBridge Cloud Services via the Gamma Web Gateway and Wireless Endpoints. We also have kits that include the Gamma Gateway and Wireless Endpoints for Sensors available on the ioBridge Store.

For the third holiday season in a row, the CheerLights project is gearing up. The idea behind CheerLights is to show that we are all connected by synchronizing the color of lights around the world. Christmas lights are a staple around the holidays and with Internet-connected lights, the color of your lights matches the color of everyone else’s lights.

It has been a real treat watching this project evolve as more and more people add lights… and other things. Things like Android and iPhone apps that check the latest color of CheerLights, an old Commodore 64, and Christmas trees.

To control the lights around the world, send a Tweet mentioning @CheerLights and a color. The command is processed by ioBridge’s ThingSpeak platform and distributed to all of the lights listening to the CheerLights API.

@CheerLights I am dreaming of a White Christmas

Another powerful aspect of the CheerLights project is that is shows off what is possible with the emerging Internet of Things. With a single message sent via a social network like Twitter, 1000’s of objects around the world are in sync with each other. Lights are connected by many types of controllers, such as Arduino, ioBridge, Philips, and the Raspberry Pi. This project is only possible through the Internet and the coordination of developers around the world.

In this video, Rae Lynne Hicks from Strasburg Fire Protection Department introduces us to an upgrade to their community’s fire alarm and disaster warning system. At the heart of Strasburg, Colorado you will find a pillar of the community: the fire alarm. This system used to be controlled by a button in the fire station. Now, the system can be remotely triggered using a mobile phone by using the ioBridge IO-204, relay function board, and the free ioApp mobile app for either Android or iPhone. This simplifies alerting and testing for the team of volunteer firefighters.

“The siren is important to our community, because in the event of a tornado or other cataclysmic activity that happens to our community. Then, our siren is set off so that people understand that they need to seek cover immediately,” said Ms. Hicks. “We needed to upgrade how our siren works.”

We are proud to be a part of a solution for the Strasburg, CO community. Awesome project and thanks to Dave Klein for producing a wonderful video.